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Ottawa Fury

Coach likes direction Fury are headed

USL Championship match between the Ottawa Fury FC and North Carolina FC at TD Place Stadium in Ottawa on Sunday.Photo: Steve Kingsman

Don Campbell

Published: May 12, 2019 - 7:39 PM

Fury FC 2, North Carolina FC 1

BY DON CAMPBELLSpecial to the Sun

His current Ottawa Fury FC are already starting to remind their head coach of the Swope Park Rangers of 2016 and 2017 and that can’t be a bad thing.

Both years, Nikola Popovic found himself coaching in the United Soccer League final, the first year as an assistant, and then as a head coach in 2017.

The Rangers lost both times but when the Fury haven’t played a playoff game in four years, a trip to the final is something to shoot for.

The Fury FC completed a four point-week on the Pitch at TD Place Sunday afternoon by downing the highly-rated North Carolina FC 2-1 before a Mother’s Day crowd of 3,551.

The Fury were solid from start to finish and even had an outstanding chance to take the lead early, like less than two minutes in, when captain Carl Haworth rang a ball off the post on a free kick.

“With only three days rest between games, the players gave an outstanding effort,” said Popovic. “New York (a 1-1 tie Wednesday) and North Carolina are two of the top four teams in this league and it was a fantastic effort.

“Our first half was almost perfect. We were making our shots and our passes. The second half was maybe more a sign of just three days rest and we made some transitions we didn’t really want to make.

USL Championship match between the Ottawa Fury FC and North Carolina FC at TD Place Stadium in Ottawa on Sunday.

“But this is looking more and more like the champions we had in Swope Park (Kansas City).”

The game stayed scoreless until the 39th minute when Mour Samb took an outstanding feed from Dakota Barnathan and deftly using his left foot to slide one past North Carolina keeper Darrin MacLeod in the 41st minute.

Samb, who previously played professionally in Norway, took a yellow card for celebrating the goal, raising his jersey to show a white t-shirt with a photo of his late mother on the front. The card was worth it.

“We lost her last February so it was very important for me,” said Samb. “And we’re playing well.

“The three points are going to be critical down the road. They came against a very tough team.”

The Fury were outstanding in the opening 45 minutes, outshooting their opponents 8-5, including four from inside the box.

USL Championship match between the Ottawa Fury FC and North Carolina FC at TD Place Stadium in Ottawa on Sunday.

That didn’t carry over to the second half, however, and Steven Miller tied it in the 66th minute.

The Fury acted quickly on surrendering a lead once again and veteran Kevin Oliveira took a pass from Wal Fall and buried it in the 71st minute.

Popovic said that while he likes the makeup of his team as it stands, more help could be on the way.

“We have players who are targets and it’s just a matter of if we get them or not,” said Popovic. “I cannot say when that might be. Or if they will come.

“All I can say is we still don’t have all the players we want and we are looking.”

The Fury head out on the road for games against the Bethlehem Steel and Hartford Athletic before returning home in three weeks against the Charlotte Independence.

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